Tony Wilson interviewed by the NME in 1986:
NME: There’s a quote about being misconstrued: ‘Irony is lost on pinheads’. I think Elvis Costello said it about The Clash, when all those, um, anti-violence songs caused the audiences to start slugging each other.
TW: The only way we can have peace in the world is by having lots more riots. There will be riots down the line before we get peace. A good old fashioned rock and roll riot is a movement towards truth; it’s the forward motion of history.
NME: Even if the rioters aren’t freedom fighters, but simply a bunch of assholes?
TW: Oh certainly. The urge to destroy is a creative urge. It’s never static. You only get old when you decree ‘all revolutions are over’, when you say the dialectic is finished. That’s why Russia is an old nation, because it has called a halt to change.
NME: What happens to pop when the rioting stops?
TW: I saw Malcolm McLaren last week in Los Angeles, and his theory at the moment is that it will never happen again. He’s saying that there are now so many avenues open to music that there’s just no chance. I said to him,’Just like fucking Lenin, right? There’s a continuous dialectic going on until you’ve had your bit. As soon as you’re in charge, that’s the end; no more world revolutions’. Speaking of Malcolm, I’ll have to tell you my How Malcolm McLaren Fucked Himself In The Ass Theory.
RIP. Like Ned, Factory has always meant Manchester first and Warhol second. I hope the funeral gets a FAC number.